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Do you look at those women with long, lustrous hair and wish you were as blessed by nature as they are? Or did you work for years to grow your hair long and then have a run-in with a rogue stylist who decided to chop it all off against your wishes?
Whether growing your hair long has always been a struggle for you, or you just need a little help growing out that disastrous new hair cut, you will be happy to hear that there are many natural ways to encourage your hair to grow faster!
Read on to learn about 21 natural secrets to help your hair grow faster, and you can stop looking at those women with long hair with envy, but instead become one of them and grow a long, lustrous head of hair that others envy instead.
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1. A Tip That Will Make You Cry: The Onion Method
If you cry when cutting onions, then they may turn to tears of joy after you try this very effective method to stimulate hair growth. A study conducted on a group of people with a form of alopecia revealed that those who applied onion juice to their scalp twice a day for two weeks began growing hair on areas of their scalp that were completely bald prior to the study.
While the study had people use the onion juice twice a day, you likely don’t want to use it in the morning and smell like onions all day!
Don’t worry, because you can still reap the benefits of onion juice for hair growth by applying the juice to your scalp only at night or chopping and smashing an onion and adding it to your weekly or bi-weekly scalp mask.
2. Exfoliate Your Scalp Set Those Clogged Hair Follicles Free
If you are like many women, you likely know that exfoliating the rest of your skin helps prevent clogged pores filled with sebum and dead skin. However, the thought of exfoliating your scalp may have never even crossed your mind.
The skin on your scalp is not only thicker than the skin on your face and body, but it also produces more sebum. When this sebum mixes with dead skin and hair product residue, your hair follicles can become clogged, just like the pores on your face and body can.
To exfoliate your scalp, all you need to do is mix 1 T. of your usual shampoo and 1 T. of apple cider vinegar, wet your hair in the shower, then lather it up as you normally would when shampooing your hair.
Leave the mixture on your scalp for 3-5 minutes (you can use this time to shave!), rinse, and then follow with your usual conditioner.
Use this natural scalp exfoliation method once or twice a week, and you can easily kick that hair growth into high gear.
3. Massage Your Scalp Increase Circulation
Another easy way to promote fast hair growth is to give yourself a scalp massage at least once a week (or every day if you have time!).
Not only do scalp massages feel amazing, but they increase blood flow to your scalp. Doctors at the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine have found scalp massages very beneficial for hair growth.
Your blood carries oxygen and essential nutrients to every organ of your body, and that includes your scalp. Increasing the blood flow to your scalp makes sure that your hair follicles and roots get all the nutrition they need to grow fast!
Check out this DIY Scalp Massage Video to see a detailed scalp massage tutorial.
4. Do the Flip as Often as You can to Bring Even More Blood to Your Scalp
On those busy days when you just don’t have time to massage your scalp, you can bring blood flow to the area easily just by doing the flip!
When you have 30 seconds to spare, just flip your head upside down to encourage a quick scalp blood rush!
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5. Massage with These Essential Oils when You Have More Time to Spare
Like most women, you lead a busy life and may not have time to saturate your scalp with oil every day before your daily scalp massage, but when you have the little extra time to spare, applying these natural oils to your scalp before your massage can boost circulation and hair growth even more.
Natural oils that researchers at the University of Maryland Medical Center have determined increase circulation to your scalp include lavender, thyme, cedar wood, and rosemary.
However, when using essential oils, which are very potent, you always want to add just a few drops to a carrier oil to dilute them. Jojoba oil is a good carrier oils for scalp massages include jojoba oil.
6. Work Nourishing Scalp Masks into Your Weekly Schedule
While you may know there are masks for your face, you may not realize that there are many DIY masks you can make for your scalp. Start by whipping an egg and slowly adding in a mashed avocado.
The egg contains selenium, zinc, phosphorous, and sulfur, while the avocado contains essential fatty acids, vitamin A, and Vitamin B-6. The combination creates a nutrient powerhouse to nourish your scalp, follicles, and hair roots.
Related: 13 Natural Ways To Color Your Own Hair At Home
7. Lose the Hairdryer and Allow Your Hair to Dry Naturally
Like the rest of the skin on your body, your scalp is healthiest when it is full of natural moisture. Using a hairdryer every day can dry out your scalp as well as your hair.
Allow your hair to air dry when you have time to prevent scalp dryness and keep your hair strands full of moisture, as well.
8. Leave the Pony Tails to the Ponies and Opt for a Loose Bun Instead
Along with are taking proper care of your scalp to encourage hair growth, you also need to care for your hair strands to prevent breakage of that healthy hair you are working so hard to grow long.
When you tie your hair into a tight ponytail, your strands can easily snap, no matter what type of hair tie or ponytail holder you are using.
When you need to keep your hair out of your face, twist it back into a loose bun instead. Fasten it with a few bobby pins or invest in a special bun clip designed to prevent hair breakage.
9. Eat a Nutrient-Rich Diet
Eating a healthy diet affects your hair and scalp health just as much as it affects the health of the rest of your body. For fast hair-growth, you want to eat a well-balanced diet chock full of vegetables, fruits, and essential fatty acids.
10. Make Sure To Include Foods Rich in Vitamin E, Zinc, and B-Vitamins
While you want to ensure you eat plenty of all essential vitamins and minerals to stay in good health, good intake of vitamin E, zinc, and B-vitamins are especially important when growing your hair long.
According to the National Institute of Health, both zinc and vitamin E deficiencies can both lead to hair loss. B-vitamins, especially biotin, niacin, and B-12, have also been shown in studies to promote healthy hair growth.
11. Pack Every Meal With a Protein Punch
Along with eating the right vitamins and minerals, it is very important to keep your protein intake high when growing your hair. Why? Your hair is actually made of protein!
How much protein should you eat? Experts recommend a simple equation for determining your optimal protein intake: divide your weight in pounds in half.
This number gives you a god target to aim for when calculating your optimal daily protein intake in grams.
12. Lose the Silicone-filled Serums and Try Argan Oil Instead
If you use a hair serum to battle frizz, then glance at the label and look for words that end in -cone or -siloxane. You may see dimethicone, cyclomethicone, cyclopentasiloxane, or one of many other silicon derived ingredients that work to battle frizz, but also smother your hair strands and scalp.
When your scalp and strands are smothered in these substances, it does look shinier temporarily, but over time, these products build-up on your hair and lock out moisture. This can cause your hair to become dry and brittle, which leads to breakage.
Toss the chemical-filled frizz serum and switch to all natural argan oil. It works just as well to keep your hair smooth and shiny without drying out your hair in the long run.
13. Also Lose the -cones and -siloxanes in Your Shampoos and Conditioners
Do you skip the frizz serums, because you already know how bad they are for your hair? You may be surprised to find out that the same harmful ingredients in them also hide out in shampoos and conditioners!
Always check the labels of your hair products to watch for these chemicals, and to stay on the safe side, just use certified organic hair products that don’t contain any harmful chemicals.
14. Pass on Drying Sulfates and Alcohol in Hair Products
Silicone-derived ingredients aren’t the only hair-harming ingredients to watch for in your hair products. Sulfates have earned a bad reputation for good reason; they are very drying, and dry hair breaks easily.
There are so many sulfate-free shampoos on the market today that there is no excuse to use a shampoo that contains sulfates when you want to grow your hair long.
Alcohol is also drying, so if you see it on the ingredient list of a hair spray, gel, mousse, or other hair product, pass on it and look for an alcohol-free version.
15. Pack Protein into Your Hair with This All-natural Protein Mask
While you may know how important it is to moisturize your hair, you may not realize that you can take steps to strengthen it as well. While there are hair strengthening products on the market that contain keratin, you can create your own easy hair-strengthening mask right at home.
All you need is a few egg whites (just enough to saturate your hair). Place your egg whites in a bowl and whisk gently. Apply the egg whites to dry hair, and then put a shower cap over your hair to capture the body heat that emits from your scalp.
Leave the egg whites on your hair for 30-45 minutes, then shampoo and condition as usual.
16. Use This Natural Hack to the Crazy Ant-yeast Cream Hair-growth Trick
It may sound crazy if you have never heard of this trick to grow your hair faster, but many women with long hair swear by it! What is it? Many women coat their scalps with the cream sold in drugstores used to combat vaginal yeast infections.
While no one is sure why it works, many women have kept records of the amazing hair growth they have achieved by using this trick. However, no one knows if there are any hazardous side effect of using this chemical on your scalp, so don’t try it!
Instead, try this natural hack instead:
Mix 1/2 cup of castor oil with 5 drops of tea tree oil. Saturate your scalp with the mixture and leave it on for about 30 minutes. Then, shampoo and condition.
Tea tree oil kills yeast, and while you never want to use it to treat a vaginal yeast infection, it is a great natural alternative to use to kill any yeast on your scalp that is preventing with fast hair growth!
17. Covet the Long, Shiny Hair of Asians? Their Secret Revealed
Many women and men in Asia use natural hair-growth tonics filled with an array of natural ingredients. All vary in ingredients they contain, but most have one ingredient in common: red ginseng.
There are two ways to use red ginseng to help your hair grow faster: you can take a supplement every day or apply it to your scalp. Studies have shown that Korean Red Ginseng taken by mouth daily can help people with alopecia overcome this hair-loss disorder.
An easy way to include it in your hair-growth regimen is to find a panax ginseng liquid extract at your health food store and add a few drops to your weekly scalp mask before you apply it.
18. Shield Your Hair From the Sun Every Day
While you may love those natural high-lights you hair gets when you spend lots of time in the sun, realize that the sun’s harsh rays are just as damaging to your hair as they are to your skin.
Don’t worry, because you don’t have to slather your hair in goopy sunscreen to protect it from the sun. You can always tie it up in a loose bun and wear a hat during the summer, but to protect your hair all year long while still wearing your favorite hairstyle, you can simply coat your hair with one of the many UV protecting sprays on the market today.
19. Never Skimp on Sleep When Growing Your Hair Long
In case you need another reason to get the restful sleep every night your body needs, realize that skimping on sleep can lead to slower hair growth for many reasons.
First, your body repairs DNA damage that occurs during the day while you sleep, and while your hair is not alive and can’t reap the benefits of this repair, your scalp is.
A healthy scalp leads to long, healthy hair.
20. Hit the Gym and Get That Blood Pumping To Your Scalp
Exercise gets your heart pumping and circulating that oxygen-filled blood to all of your body organs, including your skin and scalp.
Don’t like going to the gym? Any activity that gets your heart rate up is just as beneficial for your health and hair growth as running on a treadmill or using an elliptical machine. Play your favorite sport or enjoy an evening out dancing to get exercise while having fun.
21. Strike a Pose: How Yoga Can Help Your Hair Grow Faster
Yoga is another form of exercise that can help your hair grow faster. Some forms of yoga are much more fast-paced than others and really get your heart rate up. Aside from the physical benefits of yoga, this form of exercise can also be very beneficial to your mind.
Grow Your Hair Back Faster Than Ever!
According to Dr. Hall-Flavin of the Mayo Clinic, stress can cause hair loss. Finding a great way to manage stress, such a taking a yoga class a couple of times each week, can keep your stress levels down and encourage that hair to grow instead of falling out.
Now that you know 21 secrets to help your hair grow faster, it doesn’t mean you have to try all 21 today! Start by trying a few of your favorites, then add a new tip in each week until your hair is long and lustrous and everyone begins asking you what your secret is!
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